What Life at Sea Teaches About Reliability

Long before IDCON and PCA came together under the TRM banner, Owe Forsberg learned the most important maintenance lessons of his life in one of the world’s toughest classrooms. Spending his formative professional years hundreds of miles offshore on a ship with no backup plan instilled discipline and self-sufficiency. 

Those early years at sea built the foundation for how Owe approaches reliability, and he’s reinforced many of those concepts as part of his work at IDCON. Here’s a look at how his lessons at sea helped him become a leading reliability consultant. 

When You’re at Sea, Reliability Is Survival 

Owe spent his early career on Swedish merchant vessels, first as a mechanic and eventually as a marine engineer. These ships carried massive cargo around the world, such as vehicles and industrial equipment, often in rough conditions. 

The stakes are so much higher when handling maintenance on a ship. You can’t simply leave or overnight the parts you need — if something breaks, there’s no one to call. This taught Owe a few critical lessons: 

• PMs weren’t optional 

• Condition monitoring was a matter of survival 

• Ignoring issues could be catastrophic 

It’s a level of accountability that forever changes how you look at equipment, leadership and risk. 

A 250-Ton Ramp and an Ocean of Complexity 

One of Owe’s earliest experiences involved massive relay cabinets and a three-part ramp weighing more than 250 tons. When systems failed, he couldn’t submit a work order and wait for approval. The team had to work on the problem until it was gone. This taught him principles that still guide his consulting work today, such as: 

• Know your systems inside and out 

• Prioritize the right work 

• Do the maintenance before failure forces your hand 

• Train people so they can act without hesitation 

Owe emphasizes the contrast between ship life and land-based operations. As he points out, you can walk off the job if you don’t like how plant operations are being run. On a ship, there’s nowhere to go. 

How Shipboard Reliability Informs Today’s Work With PCA and IDCON 

Owe’s early lessons are resurfacing as PCA and IDCON, who have begun collaborating more closely under TRM. The combined approach emphasizes: 

• A focus on the fundamentals 

• Respect for structure in planning, scheduling and PM execution 

• Emphasis on training and competence 

• Leadership alignment 

• A cultural shift toward accountability 

These practices are rooted in environments where failure isn’t an option. 

Why These Lessons Matter for Today’s Plants 

Modern businesses lean heavily on automation and innovative tech. But Owe cautions that without the fundamentals, technology can’t compensate. The ship taught him the core principles he still teaches today: 

• Take care of your equipment, and it will take care of you 

• Prioritize what matters 

• Build strong teams that understand the mission 

• Don’t wait for failure to force learning 

In the end, reliability is a culture, not a toolset. Owe’s experiences on the open sea have allowed him to impart these lessons to countless clients over the years.

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